Exchange Control Act 1953

Exchange Control Act 1953 2020 REVISED EDITION This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021 An Act to confer powers, and impose duties and restrictions, in relation to gold, currency, payments, securities, debts, and the import, export, transfer and settlement of property, and for purposes connected with those matters. [6 August 1964] PART 1 PRELIMINARY Short title 1.—(1) This Act is the Exchange Control Act 1953. (2) This Act shall continue in force for a period of one year from the date of the coming into force thereof. (3) The Minister may, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette, extend the period of one year mentioned in subsection (2) for such further period or periods as he may think fit. Interpretation 2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “authorised dealer”, in relation to gold or any foreign currency, means a person for the time being authorised by an order of the Authority to act for the purposes of this Act as an authorised dealer in relation to gold, or, as the case may be, that foreign currency; “Authority” means the Monetary Authority of Singapore established under section 3 of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act 1970; “authorised depositary” means a person for the time being authorised by an order of the Authority to act as an authorised depositary for the purposes of Part 4; “bank” or “banker” insofar as it relates to a bank or banker in Singapore means any bank licensed under any written law for the time being in force relating to banks; “bearer certificate” means a certificate of title to securities by the delivery of which (with or without endorsement) the title to the securities is transferable; “certificate of title to securities” means any document of title whereby a person recognises the title of another to securities issued or to be issued by the firstmentioned person, and in the case of any such document with coupons (whether attached or on separate coupon sheets) includes any coupons which have not been detached; “coupon” means a coupon representing dividends or interest on a security; “foreign currency” does not include local currency or any currency or notes issued under the law of any part of the scheduled territories but, save as aforesaid, includes any currency and any notes of a class which are or have at any time been legal tender in any territory outside Singapore, and any reference to foreign currency, except so far as the context otherwise requires, includes a reference to any right to receive foreign currency in respect of any credit or balance at a bank; “gold” means gold coin and bullion and includes any gold in whatever state or form other than gold which has been materially increased in value by skilled craftsmanship; “local currency” means currency which is, or has at any time been, legal tender in Singapore but does not include any currency issued by, or under the authority of, the Japanese military authorities; “offence” means an offence under this Act and includes any contravention of or failure to comply with any order, direction, prohibition, restriction, condition or requirement made, given or imposed under powers conferred by this Act; “policy of assurance” means any policy securing the payment of a capital sum or annuity on the occurrence of a specified event which is certain to happen and includes — (a) any policy by which the payment of money is assured on death (except death by accident only) or the happening of any contingency dependent on human life; and (b) any policy securing the payment of an immediate annuity, and the reference in this definition to the occurrence of a specified event which is certain to happen includes the occurrence, which is certain to happen, of one of specified events none of which by itself is certain to happen; “prescribed” means prescribed, for the purposes of the provision in question, by order of the Authority; “scheduled territories” means the territories specified in the First Schedule, except that the Authority may at any time by order amend that Schedule, either by the addition or exclusion of territories or otherwise; “secondary securities” has the meaning assigned to it by section 21; “securities” means shares, stocks, bonds, notes (other than promissory notes), debentures, debenture stocks, units under a unit trust scheme and shares in an oil royalty; “specified currency” has the meaning assigned to it by section 4 as extended by section 6; “unit trust scheme” means any arrangements made for the purpose, or having the effect, of providing for persons having funds available for investment, facilities for the participation by them, as beneficiaries under a trust, in profits or income arising from the acquisition, holding, management or disposal of any property whatsoever; “unit” means, in relation to a unit trust scheme, a right or interest (whether described as a unit, as a sub‑unit or otherwise) which may be acquired under the scheme. (2) Any provision of this Act, the effect of which is to prohibit the doing of any act where a person to or by whom the act is to be done or who stands in a specified relation to any property possesses any specified attribute as to residence or otherwise, shall, where the act is done to or by 2 or more persons or, as the case may be, where 2 or more persons stand jointly in that relation to the property, operate to prohibit the doing of that act if any of those persons possess that attribute. (3) Any provision of this Act imposing an obligation on any person to do an act if he possesses any specified attribute as to residence or otherwise shall, in relation to any act which can only be done by 2 or more persons jointly — (a) where all those persons possess that attribute, operate to impose a joint obligation on all of them to do the act; and (b) where some only of them possess that attribute, operate to impose a separate obligation on each one of them who possesses that attribute to do all he can to secure the doing of the act. (4) Any power conferred by this Act to prescribe the declarations which are to be furnished on any occasion shall include a power to require that the declaration shall be made by specified persons and shall be verified in a specified manner. (5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as requiring the Authority to pay any sum otherwise than in local currency or otherwise than in Singapore. (6) Any provision of this Act requiring the Authority to pay any sum to any person shall, where that sum is in a specified currency, be construed as a provision that the Authority shall pay to that person the amount in local currency which he would have received for the specified currency if he had sold it to an authorised dealer in pursuance of an offer made under section 4 at the time when that sum is paid. (7) The obligations and prohibitions imposed by this Act shall, subject to the express limitations contained therein, apply to all persons notwithstanding that they are not in Singapore and are not citizens of Singapore.